Album Review - Cognitive Dissonance EP

"Andrew “Flip” Oliver might be the only man I've ever met that did not shake my hand with a false confidence and a coy smile masking a life lost to the sickle of societal martyrdom. I have been given a rare gem of pleasure on this earth, and that would be the opportunity to get to know Andrew. His story is not exclusive, but it is vital to the understanding of his work. With a certain intuition seldom seen, Andrew was brought to this unshakable reality: his own worth and hope in the society we're told to uphold and blindly follow is ultimately meaningless. It was through the unimaginable, indescribable grace of the one true God that Andrew was converted from a nightmare that the majority of the American populace currently faces.

Skip ahead a few years from Andrew's conversion and you will find his life radically altered by an inexplicable driving Force leading him into the studio, where he has since released three fully-loaded audio projects. Andrew released his first full-length production, Forthright, in 2012 and has produced for multiple artists/bands, as well as heading up a side-project band of his own creation, Kindred Fellow in 2013. He has been featured in magazines as well continuing with his core music outlet, self-titled Andrew Flip Oliver. With no small end in mind, he then continued to graduate college, continue as a record producer, and begin work as a professional audio engineer, creating his own company Forthright Records. To find out more about his work, as well as many free song downloads, head over to www.ForthrightRecords.com. Particularly, be sure to catch a free download of his latest release Cognitive Dissonance.

Andrew’s latest EP, Cognitive Dissonance, speaks with a boldness seldom seen, reaching out to an audience lost in darkness by the unforgiving hands of American culture. The EP challenges its audience’s entire existence on both a conscious and subconscious level. Not one facet of your life goes untouched by the record’s audacious truth, flooding the speakers of your car — where you mistakenly popped in the CD, believing it was another cut and dry indie album written at a coffee shop by a tie-die shirt wearing man in flip-flops. Andrew reaches past the monotonous, dry rituals of a seemingly innocent, yet sinister culture by attacking a subconscious level of reality that many weren't even aware existed. The album begs us to ask a couple questions specific to our lives within our culture: Who are we following? Why, exactly, are we following them? Why do we do the things we do? Why do we think the things we think? And Are we even free to think?. . .

A brain in a cage is the most fitting visual as the album's cover (compliments to designer Ricky Altizer), depicting a cacophonous certainty that many have been deceived to believe didn't exist. Andrew is one of the few voices calling out to a helpless world of sheep driven by a society gone mad with egotism, self-worship, materialism, and a self-righteous malevolence, all upheld as 'virtuous' under the facade ironically named “Civil Rights”. We have labeled this assemblage of self-destructing characteristics as The American Dream.

The logical conclusion to this is a brutal one. It leads to a realization that the world has fooled us into thinking we are free to think, but when we become programmed by its culture we most certainly are not. As we awaken our minds to the truths lying beneath our monotonous entertainment, hobbies, jobs, titles, positions, education, and talents, then and only then, does Andrew's music begin to produce within us the understanding of an eminent need for veracity within reality. (You can download Cognitive Dissonance for free, here.)"

Andrew is currently finishing his third studio album in collaboration with his brother Stephen. The album will be under the name Brother Oliver, and is scheduled for release this fall. Join the Forthright Newsletter here to receive updates.

About the author: Paul Walters is a long-time supporter and friend of Forthright Records, actively contributing in the division of creativity as well as the carrying out of our company mission. Paul is an artist, writer, and above all else, a disciple and follower of Christ.